BALTIMORE, Md.  California Chrome’s chestnut coat glistened in the Maryland sunshine early Sunday morning as the colt with the blaze striped face and four white feet looked every bit the part of a Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes champion.

Now that the 3-year-old son of Lucky Pulpit has earned the first two jewels of horse racing’s Triple Crown, those connected to him know the biggest challenge lies ahead on June 7 at the Belmont Stakes.

Trainer Art Sherman, who lives in Rancho Bernardo, sounded as confident as he’s been at any time of his colt’s steady march to horse racing history. California Chrome has won six straight stakes races and needs one more to join the pantheon of 11 Triple Crown winners.

“I’m thinking what the journey is, one more shot,” Sherman said. “We’ll have a lot of fresh shooters waiting for us in New York, but listen, he’s done everything we’ve asked of him. We don’t have anything to prove in New York. He’s been a super horse for us. He’s one of those horses you’re going to have to outrun to beat him. Maybe they won’t be able to beat him. I’m really looking forward to that race.”

“I do. I have a good feeling about it,” Sherman said. “I’m really confident going into this race. After watching him run that race after two weeks and showing the courage that he had, they better have their runnin’ shoes on. No matter how many new shooters we see in New York, he’s the real McCoy.”

There’s a reason they call the Final Jewel of the Triple Crown “Test of a Champion.” It’s a very tough race for a 3-year-old colt who already has laid out everything he had to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in two weeks time. Three weeks later, he’s asked to run his longest race, 1½ miles over the vast Belmont Park track.

By winning the Preakness Stakes Saturday by 1½ in front of a fast-charging Ride On Curlin, California Chrome became the 34th horse to win the first two jewels of the Triple Crown. Of those horses, only 11 have won the Belmont Stakes to take the Triple Crown. Affirmed was the last to do it in 1978. Since then, counting California Chrome, 13 horses have won the Derby and Preakness. Eleven ran and failed, with the likes of Sunday Silence, Silver Charm, Real Quiet and Smarty Jones all finishing second. One other horse, I’ll Have Another, suffered a career-ending ligament injury on the eve of the Belmont Stakes in 2012 and didn’t run.

Sherman described California Chrome as being full of energy Sunday morning after his big Preakness Stakes win.

“He’s pulling Alan around the ring there,” Art Sherman said of his son’s morning walk around the barn with California Chrome. “He ate everything up and looks really good this morning.”

Sherman believes the 3-year-old son of Lucky Pulpit will handle the 1½-mile distance of the Belmont.

“I really think a mile and a half is no problem at all for this horse,” Sherman said. “I know when I was at Los Alamitos he galloped two miles every day and the second time around there he was in another gear. He looked better to me the second time around than the first.”

Sherman will huddle with veteran jockey Victor Espinoza, who lives in Del Mar, prior to the Belmont to go over the extra challenges of that oval and its wide turns.

“To last that long you’re going to have to take a hold of your horse the first part of it,” Sherman said. “He’s an easy horse to rate. If you want him to go in :48 (for a half-mile), he goes in :48. If you want him to go in :46, he’ll go in :46. I don’t think he needs to carry his race with him. Whatever the pace is, perfect, he can ride him that way.”

Sherman joined owner Steve Coburn and California Chrome’s inner circle for a night of celebration. The group made good on a promise the night before the Preakness. They promised to return to Sullivan’s Steakhouse in Baltimore if the restaurant brought them luck in the Preakness. It did, and they all returned and celebrated in the Harbor View Room at Sullivan’s. The popular drink was the Knockout, the restaurants signature cocktail that includes pineapple-soaked vodka.

“I trained a little too hard last night,” Art Sherman said, laughing. “I need to get back to California for some rest and get back to our barn at Los Alamitos.”